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Sunday, April 29, 2012

Weekly Gratitude


Welcome to Gratitude! If you feel called to join along please link up in the comments section below with any post that expresses your gratitude and reverence for the "little things" in your life. Share on your blog, spread the word on Facebook or any other social outlet. Let's slow it down and enjoy our moments and remember to be thankful........maybe someone who's feeling low might be inspired to realize the little things in their life that make it all worth while! 



This was our { moment } photo this week. So glad Charlotte felt inspired to take it!

This week I am grateful for being awake and aware enough to realize that our eldest kitty was in transition which allowed us to be able to make this a really good week for him. There were lots of snuggles and pets, a special bed was made for him in the center of it all, we let him outside so he could soak up the sunshine and play in the garden, he took nice long walks along the sheep pasture and in the end......he found a nice soft bed of hay, overlooking the sheep meadow where the morning sun shines and the dew is warm. Our kitty was a lovely and fun part of our family. We're grateful his transition was peaceful and gentle. Our hearts may be sad and feeling heavy but knowing he's mingling among the angels and keeping watch on the garden allows us to create a space of joy and reverance for the life we all shared together.


Smile, be kind to others, and love like there's no tomorrow xoxo

Friday, April 27, 2012

{ this moment }

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
Inspired by Amanda Blake Soule at SouleMama.com

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Weekly Gratitude


Welcome to Gratitude! If you feel called to join along please link up in the comments section below with any post that expresses your gratitude and reverence for the "little things" in your life. Share on your blog, spread the word on Facebook or any other social outlet. Let's slow it down and enjoy our moments and remember to be thankful........maybe someone who's feeling low might be inspired to realize the little things in their life that make it all worth while!  

I am grateful for the view from our bedroom window.
I am grateful for little bare feet.

This week, as all weeks do, prove to be full with gifts and moments to be grateful for; play dates, being caught up on the laundry (and having it put away, even!), little voices singing, watching Father and Son clean out the shed laughing and enjoying their time together, potluck with dear friends, and the hope of healing that will find my Mother.



Smile, be kind to others, and love like there's no tomorrow xoxo

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Preparing......diapers!

Well, the count down is on. It's been a long few weeks of cleaning and the continued preparations for welcoming our new baby within the next 4-5 weeks. This pregnancy has seemingly flown by! Between big kids and all of their activities and being home with two littles, life has never a dull moment. Lately, I've been drifting back into memories of having my first born......napping when he napped, snuggling all day, quiet days and cozy nights, just us! There happen to be 6 years between Bella and Charlotte so I was able to experience that feeling again with her, napping when (or IF) she napped, super snuggles, less chaotic moments. Having more children certainly changes the way you are able to spend time with you newborn. Not in a bad way, just different. Fewer slow moments, packing baby more to accomplish tasks instead of letting things fall to the wayside and wrapping ourselves in bed for a day full of snuggles. The other children need to eat, have clean clothes, they need attention, too. It's an adjustment when you open your heart and mind even wider to welcome another blessed soul into your life, something I would never change.......right now, I'm just acknowledging the transistion and what is required to make it all come together seamlessly and with as little trauma as possible!

This week I spent the week researching ways to cut costs and help make life a little more easy. Diapers and babywearing have been at the top of the my list. I don't like disposable diapers.......I appreciate the convenience however after doing the math (I admit I'm a bit late to the party) and realizing how much money we've spent and literally thrown away in disposable diapers, I'm quite disappointed in us! For the past 5 years we've been between disposable diapers and gdiapers. I like them alot but there are some things I don't........like the bunching of the insert, the messing in the liner, and not being able to afford the covers and liners. It's expensive (for us). Seventh Generation diapers are sold at our local grocery, so, even though they were still disposable we felt better about the ingredients. The cost is quite high next to other mainstream diapers but we agreed it was worth the "investment". SO, after thinking long and hard about how to use the gdiaper covers that we owned already I was led to find Green Mountain Diapers. Between what they offer and what I was given a few years ago when KiKi was born (wool covers, some prefolds, and other random covers) I was able to compile a list of items that would take us into the realm of full time cloth diapering for our new baby and for KiKi. It has been a full week of alternative diapering for  KiKi this week. I went to an amazing consignment sale and scored on items that she could use now and baby will eventually grow into! Walking into the consignment sale I inquired about cloth diapers being there since I had no interest in scoping out the entirety of the 20,000 items in the sale. The lady at the door smiled and said "Oh, I don't think so.......". I politely smiled and felt the urge to peek anyway. I walked around the corner, found the potty training section and proceeded to discover and bounty of bumGenius covers and inserts and a bummis start up kit which came with 4 covers, 18 organic cotton prefolds, a wet bag, flushble and reusable liners; all for a huge discount! I saved over $200 by purchasing all that I did used.

KiKi in her bummis Super Whisper wrap with
an organic cotton prefold.
Whew! It's a lot of hard work trying to make a decision like this one. Why? Well, there are so many options (too many in my opinion) and trying to discover which ones are best for our family was the most difficult task. Having two in diapers maked it even more challenging in my mind. Finding or more over creating a system that works for both babes and both parents (simpicity at home and out) was the leading factors, aside from cost. The enviromental implications of what we've contributed thus far are staggering.......and it breaks my heart! I'm glad that I've reached whatever plateau I needed to finally find the confidence and discipline to make the switch. It feels SO AWESOME!!!!! There is such a sense of accomplishemnt!

Well......this is just a small piece of where we've been this week! I've got my list, made inquiries on Craigslist and Freecycle to find the pieces I still need to complete our stash at a discount and second hand. If any of you who visit my blog have any comments about what worked for you in the alternative diapering world I'd LOVE to hear them!!!

For my next post I will write about our adventures in babywearing :o)

Friday, April 20, 2012

{ this moment }

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by Amanda Blake Soule at SouleMama.com

Monday, April 16, 2012

Back to Life


Well, it sure has been a whirlwind of a week! The big kids were on Spring break this past week and my husband was off from work. We usually spend this week off visiting family in Kentucky, however with the birth of our newest babe closing in on us, we thought we should spend this time preparing and creating our spaces to receive the baby. I won't go into the details of what an outrageously busy and intense week this has been because this would become entirely too LONG. Let's just say.......we could have all used another week off!

When our spring cleaning was finally complete, the baby's clothes found, culled, washed, and put away, the bigs and the littles spaces lovingly prepared and our home was back to a state of "livability" we finally could stretch and have a bit of fun! The girls were promised a picnic at the park, there was lots of time spent in the garden, finding toys to move outdoors, swings to hang, sitting nooks to create, sleep and snuggles, friends to play with, water to play in, more picnics........it was finally starting to feel like a vacation!



Saturday afternoon our neighbor came over to have us come look at a baby bunny that had been removed from it's nest. Having had the great fortune of learning from and working with a wildlife rehabilitator I felt comfortable taking on the task of caring for this wee one. The wildlife center doesn't open for another couple of weeks so while I took the bunny in for a check up I was then sent home to continue caring for this little buns in hopes that we could raise it up. Wild baby bunnies don't have a high success rate of being rehabilitated, so it's an extremely emotional and sensitive job. So far, I think we're doing pretty good! Our bunny has snuggled into one of our felted eggs the littles received for Easter since it's soft and woolly inside and she's lacking the snuggles of her siblings. Little buns is able to maintain her body temperature (which is wonderful news), she's taking in more formula at each feeding, and she is extremely strong, crawling all over and poking her little head all around, climbing out of her egg and exploring (although her eyes aren't open yet!!!) with her other senses. It's a very rewarding task, I'm honored to be capable enough and have the support from experienced rehabilitators to safely and carefully care for this wee one. She is precious, sweet, and has much vitality and zeal to survive running through her! Please, wish us well on our journey together.......


It's nice to be back after a bit of a hiatus. I look forward to returning to our usual rhythms and crafting, and gentle living. Now........the littles and I are off to hang our wash on the line as it's looking to be close to 90 degrees today!

Wishing you all the sweet smell of sunshine dried clothes and a day full of wonderful surprises xoxo

Friday, April 6, 2012

Felted Eggs


This has been one of those weeks where everything happens at once! I am a firm believer that energy is strongest during the full moon and today is the culmination of all that energy! Sometimes, I look very much forward to a waning moon.......I sure do love that the Full Pink Moon fell on Good Friday and Passover. So much energy into rebirth and new beginnings which are being lived out right in our home by way of cleaning out and preparing for our newest little. Having all our baby stuff tucked away and the bedrooms so full and disorganized we'll be spending our Spring break making anew! By this time next week I imagine life will be much more relaxed........*insert deep breath here*
All the while, Easter is upon us! We are usually away spending Easter with family but this year we're staying home. This will be the first Easter in 4 years that I'll need to consider how to incorporate a simple Easter celebration at home. It's exciting for me.......no quick trip to the grocery to find something on the road (you'd think I'd prepare a head of time). I've been planning little gifts, special treats, hardly any candy (but jelly beans for sure). We have baskets we use every year so that part is no problem. One of the special treats we got for the littles is sitting in our Easter egg in the first photo. Mama West Wind creates such amazing little peg folk. They have so much character and the moment you hold one in your hand you know it's been created in loving hands. They are precious. After seeing a pair on her Etsy shop I couldn't resist purchasing them! I knew we'd need a special place for them, this is why I created the felted eggs. It was a simply process albeit a bit time consuming but the end result is truly adorable. I can't wait for the littles to see them in their baskets!

Felted Egg Tutorial

You will need::
wool roving
a plastic egg or something equivalent
hot, soapy water (dish soap)
patience
Make sure you have plenty of roving, it takes quite a bit to cover an egg shape well!

Wrap your egg in your roving. Be mindful of bare spots and where the wool overlaps as they
will be your weak spots and might need more roving as the felting process begins.

Fill your sink with hot (as hot as your hands can handle) soapy (unscented dish soap) water.
Dip your egg in the water and gently roll, pat, squeeze, pet, twist and repeat (not in any particular order!)
The wool will be loose around the egg until it begins to felt. You can add more soap to help keep it smooth
and allow the felting to take place. The hotter the water the better.
This is the part that takes the longest. For the felting to become strong and not fall apart it took about 20-30 minutes. Patience is essential because the moment you begin to rush and use a firmer hand with your egg is the moment where it will begin to fall apart!


This is one of our finished eggs. From the last picture you can see that I wrapped another bit of roving around the egg. I did this because, and this is from the picture before this one, once the initial wool felted together it needed a bit more to bond it all together. So, I wrapped a bit more roving around and continued to felt the egg. This helps out alot! And the layers of color are so beautiful!


This is the end result! My first egg had a weak spot where the egg beneath actually showed so I used that as my place to cut into and create the opening to allow the egg to be released and ultimately create the little cradle for our peg bunny! I blanket stitched along the edging to provide more stability to the opening, which I'm sure you'll notice if you do a search on felted eggs that it is the most common edging to use. It is might pretty, though, don't you think?

I'm wishing you all a peaceful and wonderful rebirth to your lives. May Eastertide flow and spring up gently the most glorious blooms of hope and renewal. xoxo

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Weekly Gratitude


So much to be grateful for this week. Play silks were dyed, eggs were colored, snuggles were had. This weekend also marked our twice a year "Retreat Weekend" within our community. We live in an Intentional Quaker Community and have the great fortune of having an amazing lady come into our Community and guide us through these powerful retreats. This weekend was all about "Nurturing Our Spirits". Using Quaker process and practice we were able to honor that which is in all of us.......unconditional love. We held each other so tenderly and with reverence. We were all humbled and felt safe within our vulnerable spaces to allow for much healing. Through laughter and tears, anger and heartache, our lives for the past few days have been transformed. We are all keenly aware of what it is we need to honor the Spirit working through us, within our lives, within others. We have begun to figure out more deeply what it means to know the Spirit as it lives in us, how we can apply the gifts of the Spirit more justly into our lives outside of ourselves. It was such an honor and I am so grateful for spending the time with and loving even more deeply the other six households that make up our Community. What an amazing time and place to live in.

Welcome to Gratitude! If you feel called to join along please link up below with any post that expresses your gratitude and reverence for the "little things" in your life. Share on your blog, spread the word on Facebook or any other social outlet. Let's slow it down and enjoy our moments and remember to be thankful for the little things........maybe someone who's feeling low might be inspired to realize the little things in their life that make it all worth while!


Smile, be kind to others, and love like there's no tomorrow xoxo

*** We were unable to link up with our usual Mister Linky due to technical difficulties.......please share your link in the comments below!